Fie on the Weather Channel for its undue alarmism!

Friday

Apr 5, 2013 at 12:24 PM

Timothy Egan NAILS IT:

By naming routine winter storms Gandalf, or Khan, the Weather Channel is trying to become the news, and is changing behavior. Triton, another name given another typical winter storm, was said to be “targeting California” not long ago, like North Korean nukes.

The effect is to trivialize the real thing, to put breathless graphics and histrionics ahead of science and public safety. You saw the same thing happen to the stock market when Jim Cramer brought clown-show theatrics and spittle-spewing outbursts — “buy! buy! buy!” — to decisions that should call for patient analysis. Many ...

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Pat Cunningham

Timothy Egan NAILS IT:

By naming routine winter storms Gandalf, or Khan, the Weather Channel is trying to become the news, and is changing behavior. Triton, another name given another typical winter storm, was said to be “targeting California” not long ago, like North Korean nukes.

The effect is to trivialize the real thing, to put breathless graphics and histrionics ahead of science and public safety. You saw the same thing happen to the stock market when Jim Cramer brought clown-show theatrics and spittle-spewing outbursts — “buy! buy! buy!” — to decisions that should call for patient analysis. Many ...